Victoria should look at developing river walk

July 10, 2012 at 2:10 a.m.

Editor, the Advocate:

Let's face it, Victoria is called the Crossroads, but we are not really in the middle of anything. I would like to suggest a long-term growth plan that would be an attraction to Victoria. Although modest in scale, for the initial investors, it would pay for itself many times over.

The new PumpHouse Restaurant is a welcome addition to Victoria. It sits over-looking the Guadalupe River with a small creek on the south side. This is in the Riverside Park and is really marvelous and an ingenious idea.

My proposal will require a little imagination and thinking on your part. Pretend you are coming in to Riverside Park from the northwest side. You pass by the rose garden and go down the hill. At the bottom, on the right is a small car parking lot. For those who have lived in Victoria for some years, you would know that this spot is where the river breaks through and floods the park.

Victoria could have its own natural River Walk by building a canal from this low spot at the river to the creek that flows into the river at the PumpHouse Restaurant, about a quarter of a mile. A small dam would have to be built across the river to raise the water level.

The dirt from the canal would be put on either side to raise the bank, as the property is almost all flood plain now. The river would flow naturally through the canal and back into the river. Hotels and restaurants, stores, riverside walks, tour boats and botanical gardens would eventually develop, and of course, a shrine for the unborn.

The Guadalupe River has never been used very much, mostly because of the threat of floods, this would solve some of the flood problem and make use of this valuable resource and give Victoria an additional attraction to draw visitors.